It's a little mystifying why we had never gone before, but we decided to finally remedy that. We started out bright and early for the two and a half hour drive and arrived in time for the open rehearsal of "La Damnation de Faust" by Hector Berlioz. 
Maestro James Levine conducted the Tanglewood Orchestra, the soloists, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a working rehearsal of the piece which was wonderful to watch. The day was cool and breezy in the 60's, not a typical August day at all but we were surrounded by many elderly patrons who were dressed in their winter clothes, hats, scarfs, and bundled in blankets. There was a high cane to patron ratio. It made us wonder what would become of Tanglewood in 20 years when these patrons are long gone. Will younger people discover the joy of Tanglewood and the beauty of the setting and the music? But, I digress. Maestro Levine did a wonderful job rehearsing his performers, often going over bits of the piece again and again, looking for just the right sound.
"The Damnation of Faust" is Goethe's story of Faust's love for Marguerite, for whom he makes a pact with the devil. Marguerite has been condemned to death for poisoning her mother with a sleeping potion and Faust offers himself as a servant to the devil in exchange for her freedom. Faust goes to Hell while Marguerite goes to heaven. It was a very moving story in music. We are fortunate to know one of the tenors in the chorus. He sings in our church choir with us and have talked to him often of his love of Tanglewood. It was wonderful to see him perform and experience this masterwork. During the break in the rehearsal, we moved from under the shed to the lawn where we dined on a wonderful picnic lunch, shared a bottle of wine, and enjoyed the rest of the rehearsal in the warmth of the noon-time sun. It was so tranquil. 
After our lunch, we set out for the Hancock Shaker Village about a half hour away from Tanglewood. Set in the Berkshire mountains, it is an idyllic place, full of history of this now almost defunct sect of people. The Shakers began in Manchester, England and came to America in 1774. They were hard workers who believed in embracing technology, but who believed in the importance of celibacy, communal life, and the confession of sin. To perpetuate their religious sect they adopted children from outside the group and gathered converts to their new Christian movement. They made important contributions to art, craftsmanship and architecture, including this unusual round stone barn. 
Below is the dormitory where the Brethren and Sisters lived, in the same building, but totally separate. They did however have equal responsibilities for the working of the village and no one was allowed to do any one job for too long a time. Everyone rotated through the different chores in the village. Although at their height, there were nineteen major Shaker communities in the United States, today, the only Shakers left live in a settlement in Sabbathday Lake, Maine. We had a lovely day, experiencing two new destinations in one day, and checking off two more places to see before we die. I think I shall have to make a working list from the suggestions in Ms. Schultz's book and actually mark each off as we see them. How many places have you seen? I plan to count ours up and I'll let you know!
1 comment:
Good luck with your list, you could set up an Excel spreadsheet to keep yourself on 'track'.
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